ABOUT us
WHAT IS THIS PROJECT?
#ENOUGH: Plays to End Gun Violence is a new campaign of theatre activism on a mission to provide middle and high school students with the platform to spark critical conversations about gun violence across the country. The project enables teens to express themselves through storytelling, foster open dialogue in their communities, take on leadership roles, and inspire creative action.
Launched in 2019 by director Michael Cotey, #ENOUGH puts America's young people at the center of the conversation on gun violence through the transformative power of storytelling.
Beginning in January 2020 as a call for submissions from middle and high school students to write short 10-minute plays on the topic of gun violence, #ENOUGH culminates in an evening of simultaneous staged readings across the country of the most impactful plays on December 14, 2020 - the 8th anniversary of Sandy Hook.
#ENOUGH IS ABOUT
YOUTH ENGAGEMENT
#ENOUGH IS ABOUT
YOUTH-LED CREATIVITY
AND, ABOVE ALL, #ENOUGH IS ABOUT
YOUTH-DRIVEN ACTION
We will enable our young future leaders to turn theatre spaces into civic spaces, uniting communities despite their distances and differences with one voice saying it’s time to put an end to gun violence. It’s time we say ENOUGH.
MEET THE TEAM
Michael Cotey
Founder & Producer
Michael is a Chicago-based, Milwaukee-bred theatre-maker. He has directed at Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Next Act, First Stage, Northwestern University, UW-Madison, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Illinois Wesleyan University and Youngblood Theatre. Michael has also assisted at Goodman Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Utah Shakespeare, Steppenwolf, and Milwaukee Rep, for prominent directors, like Tony Award-winners Mary Zimmerman and Robert Falls. From 2009-2013 he was the Founding Artistic Director of Youngblood Theatre in Milwaukee. Regularly celebrated by the theater community and the press as one of the most exciting new Milwaukee theater ventures in decades, Youngblood provided professional opportunities to early-career emerging artists, introduced the works of provocative new playwrights, and staged theatre in raw found spaces that invoked Milwaukee’s storied industrial past. He's taught at UW-Madison, Roosevelt University, Northwestern, and UW-Milwaukee. He was both the member of Directors Lab Chicago and the FAIR Program at Oregon Shakespeare. Michael graduated from UW-Milwaukee with a BFA in Acting and from Northwestern University with an MFA in Directing. In 2014 he was named UWM’s “Graduate of the Last Decade.” www.michaelcotey.com
.jpg)
Si Mon' Emmett
Program Associate
Si Mon' is a native of Dallas who graduated with a BFA in the UTeach Theatre program at the University of Texas at Austin. Now a certified educator for theatre arts, she works both in classrooms and in administration for the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre as the Education and Youth Programs Associate. Her background in TYA (Theatre for Young Audiences) spans from acting to directing and devising. Previously, she has worked with Dallas Children’s Theater, Victory Gardens Theater (Chicago), and VORTEX Repertory Company and Teatro Vivo (Austin). Her online portfolio can be found at https://semmett3.wixsite.com/emmett-portfolio
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
CLICK ON IMAGES FOR BIOS
Mara Richards Bim
Artistic Director
Cry Havoc Theater
Jonathan Shmidt Chapman
Executive Director
Theatre for Young Audiences/USA
Michael Rohd
Artistic Director
Sojourn Theatre Company
FINALIST SELECTION
COMMITTEE AKA TEAM AWESOME
Once the Call for Submission period has ended, a group of theatre professionals will read all of the plays submitted and name a group of 20 semi-finalists. Those 20 plays will be read by the Finalist Selection Committee, a group of award-winning and nationally recognized playwrights.
They will then select the finalist plays to be read in #ENOUGH Nationwide Reading and give personal feedback to the young authors of those plays.
Get to know the sheer awesomeness of the Finalist Selection Committee by clicking on their image for their full bio!
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Jan 1 - June 20, 2020
Students in grades 6-12 write short plays on the topic of gun violence.
FINALIST PLAYS SELECTED
June - August, 2020
A group of nationally-recognized playwrights select the top plays.
NATIONWIDE READING
December 14, 2020
#ENOUGH plays are read in simultaneous readings across the country.